Total gambling revenues generated by Florida's Indian tribes grew by 5 percent, to about $2.16 billion, according to an annual report prepared by an expert on Indian gambling.

Casino City's Indian Gaming Industry Report is produced annually by Alan Meister, who tracks and analyzes the $27 billion tribal-gambling industry.

Florida's growth exceeded the 3 percent national average for Indian casinos, which earned $27.4 billion in revenues in 2011, the most-recent year for which data is available. Commercial casinos and racinos brought in $35.5 billion.

Meister, as he has done for the past 10 years, arrived at his numbers through a combination of public data, private information released by the Indians only to him and his own estimates. He combines the revenues from the seven casinos operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida with the one in west Miami-Dade County run by the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida. In an email, Meister said the report "is not commissioned by any entity. Thus, it truly is independent scholarly work."

Casino revenues at Florida horse tracks, dog tracks and jai-alai frontons are reported to the state and are public record. They are broken down by slot-machine, poker and racing income. The Indians were not required to report their revenues in 2011. The Seminoles agreed to pay the state $1 billion over five years for exclusive rights to blackjack and other table games, but that compact expires in 2015.

Meister attributed Florida's growth to structural improvements and the introduction of blackjack and other table games at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek and Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood, as well as a new gambling room specifically for Asians at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa.

"They have a great product, and they keep getting better and better over time," said Robert Heller, CEO of Spectrum Gaming Capital, of the Seminole casinos. "They provide a very high-quality experience, and the more sophisticated a gambling consumer in Florida becomes, the more they will appreciate that experience."

"Some of these future developments may be impacted by whether or not the state passes legislation to legalize commercial resort casinos," Meister wrote in the report. He noted that the Legislature has created committees that will consider expansions.

The Seminoles say their biggest moneymaker is the Hard Rock in Tampa, which is the only major casino outside South Florida. The Hard Rock Hollywood competes with two other Seminole casinos and the Broward and Miami-Dade horse tracks, dog tracks and jai-alai frontons.

"It doesn't hurt to be in the market by ourselves, I'll tell you that," said John Fontana, president of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa.

Meanwhile, the Miccosukees, who have not announced any expansion plan, continue to offer only bingo-style Class II slots.

Fontana said Indian gambling "set the table for the growth of gambling in the United States." For example, he said, the Seminoles were the first to introduce casino gambling in South Florida, followed by a state referendum and county votes that brought slot machines to South Florida's pari-mutuels.

"It was the impetus in many jurisdictions for gambling to be approved," he said.

Fontana also said the gambling business has made the Seminoles self-sufficient, to the point that the tribe bought the Hard Rock International franchise in 2007. Each tribe member receives a piece of the Seminoles' gambling profits.

"We've gone from 95 percent of our support coming from federal and state grants to now being completely economically self-sufficient, and even giving money back to the state," he said, referring to the $1 billion compact payment. "And our money is kept here in the state, and is a huge economic driver for the state of Florida."